Welcome to Summer!

That exciting time of year is quickly approaching, the one when you can shut off those early morning alarm clocks, take a break from packing lunches, practicing spelling words, running out the door with barely a minute to spare. You daydream of lazy days by the pool with the kids.Well, until the fighting and whining starts and then you find yourself counting down the days until the first day of the new school year. But, we'll save that conversation for another time!

If you are anything like me, I'm barely keeping my head above water the last few weeks of school. The alarm clock goes off about twenty minutes later than it did at the beginning of school, I find myself forgetting to pack their snack or sign the reading log and I simply cannot believe another school year is almost over! I also fight back tears because it feels like just yesterday we were taking preschool pictures and now they look like grown boys who will be starting another grade level. Something that once seemed so far away, is now reality.

Before they grow into typical teenagers who would rather spend their time with friends and (gulp) girls instead of snuggling with me on the couch reading books and talking about Mine craft, or happily spending weekends together as a family where one of my guys always gives me a hug and announces "I love my family!" I am trying to cherish every moment, celebrate their hard work in school, and have a little fun. Welcome to Summer kids!! The last few years I have hosted an easy get together celebrating the end of school with lots of water play and fun! Click here to see the first Welcome to Summer Party.

This past year the twins each invited three boys from their class to our Welcome to Summer bash. We planned this party for the last day of school and had lots of messy fun!

The boys and party guests were greeted with this

Our second Costco purchased giant ball, sadly this one didn't survive too long after the party either but it provided a whole lot of fun while it lasted.

I had the yard set up with the inflatable pool, homemade slip n slide complete with Dawn dish soap for extra speed, squirt gun station, messy Twister, and a friendly challenge course between the two classrooms. Of course I needed to feed these hungry kindergarten graduates so it was pizza, fruit, veggies, and junk food on the menu!

These excited and energy filled boys loved busting into the start of summer break! They jumped right into the pool, sped down the slip n slide, and got right into a water gun war with their very own loaded squirt gun that awaited them at the water gun station aka the water table.

After lots of free water play I suggested a game of Twister which the boys happily agreed too. But this wasn't just a normal game of Twister. I put color coordinated shaving cream on the circles to add a little messy fun.
 

After Twister it was time for the classroom challenge. Each team of four competed in a sack race, tug of war, game of keeping the balloons in the air using only pool noodles, and an obstacle course. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of it all because I was busy coordinating and playing too!

When I say simple and affordable, I mean it. The pool noodles and balloons were from Dollar Tree and the kids had a blast trying to keep the balloons in the air using only their pool noodle.

The obstacle course consisted of jumping through hoops, weaving through cones, throwing foam rockets into a hula hoop, kicking a soccer ball into the goal, and then finding a flag in the pool of shaving cream. Can you guess which was the kids' favorite part of the obstacle course?!

 

 I bought a birthday banner from Dollar Tree and cut off the pennants for the flags

However, what kind of summer party would it be without water balloons?! For the grand finale, I opened the large cooler full of water balloons and let the boys go at it!

It was a great way to celebrate a wonderful school year and kick off to summer!

We love water balloons, so of course I've tried a few products that are supposed to make filling and tying them easier. When I filled the fifty balloons for this party I simply used the plastic nozzle attachment which helped but still took a lot of time. I even googled products last year and one of them promised to fill ten water balloons at once, without having to tie them! I loved it but at $30, no way! However, this year I found Bunch O Balloons (same concept) on sale for $8, normally retail at $10 for thirty balloons and they work! It literally takes sixty seconds to fill ten balloons and all you have to do is turn on the hose! I've stocked up and highly recommend this product!

 The squirt guns that each boy got to take home were purchased from Five Below

The sacks, hula hoops, and colorful cones used in the obstacle course came from Oriental Trading

The pool noodles, balloons, shaving cream and hula hoop all from Dollar Tree

Stay tuned for this years Welcome to Summer Party and for more of my party ideas, home decorating, favorite recipes, twin activities x 2, and all things
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